Christ Church with St Philip
Eastbourne, Sussex
Victorian gothic church, designed by a Benjamin Ferrey, a pupil and biographer of Augustus Pugin.
All Souls is the only Victorian church in Sussex displaying a free standing Campanile or bell tower. The grade II* listed building was consecrated by the Bishop of Chichester on 6 July 1882. The architects were Parr & Strong of London, the builders James Peerless of Eastbourne. The total cost of building was £18,000 and this was paid for by Lady Victoria Long-Wellesley who took a detailed interest in the project. The land was gifted by the 7th Duke of Devonshire who also provided £1,000 towards the building cost.
The pulpit desk front and mosaics were executed by Farmer & Brindley of London. The stained glass is mostly 1898 by Heaton Butler & Bayne. The original WWI memorial window was destroyed in WWII and was replaced in 1969, the window being designed by Margery May assisted by David Wilson.
A principal feature of the building is the complete architectural interior detail with rounded features being used in much of the furnishings, the fine pitch pews and panelling being examples. There is precise and well detailed stonework in the capitals of the pillars showing foliage and geometrical design matched in pairs. That over the pulpit is the Greek monogram for Christ, sometimes called Constantine’s Cross.